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London Buses route 16
London Buses route 16 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline. History Metroline are great fans of cascading vehicles around from one route to another - usually with good reason, varying from passenger loadings and vehicle layouts to economy in engineering. One route that has had more than its share of cascades is the 16, which seemed for a time to be getting new vehicles on an annual basis each summer, though the allocation does now appear to have settled down. First to come were Volvo Olympians (AVs), as an upgrade from MCW Metrobuses, in 1998. AV 23-38 later moved to the 260 and were replaced by an equal number of new Tridents. Those were the first of what was destined to be a short run of success with Metroline for Alexander, as opposed to the Plaxton President which had been specified before (though by MTL, before takeover by Metroline) and subsequently became standard. But in 2000 those were in turn cascaded, and replaced by the last Alexander bodied buses ordered by Metroline, TAL 118-134. This batch of TALs was thus unique. The TAs moved to route 32, but have subsequently drifted back partly to cover an increase in service on the 16. The 16 also suffered the indignity of a large number of Dennis Dart single deckers in early 2003, to free up double deckers for the much needed conversion of routes 139 and 189 to double deck. However, full double-deck operation was re-achieved by 17 February 2003, when the Mayor's congestion charge began. In 2007, the Monday to Friday peak service was reduced slightly, with the introduction of a new route 332, which incidentally replaced the 316 between Cricklewood and Neasden, that route having been introduced to replace the same section of route 16 ten years earlier. Another change to vehicle type occurred in mid-2008, when Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s were introduced. These buses were bought for the new contract on route 460, although were allocated to Cricklewood Garage instead, in order to compare their performance with the earlier batch bought for route 332, and hybrid versions due for trial. On 26 September 2015, brand new Routemasters were introduced. Route 16 will be retained by Metroline from 8 October 2016. Current route Route departing Cricklewood * Cricklewood Broadway Temple Road * Shoot Up Hill * Brondesbury * Kilburn High Road * Maida Vale * Edgware Road * Marble Arch * Park Lane * Hyde Park Corner * Duke of Wellington Place * Grosvenor Place * Lower Grosvenor Place * Buckingham Palace Road * Terminus Place * Victoria station Route departing Victoria * Victoria station * Wilton Road * Victoria Street * Grosvenor Gardens * Grosvenor Place * Hyde Park Corner * Park Lane * Cumberland Gate * Marble Arch * Edgware Road * Maida Vale * Kilburn High Road * Brondesbury * Shoot Up Hill * Cricklewood Broadway * Edgware Road * Cricklewood Bus Garage See also * List of bus routes in London * Metroline External links * Transport For London * London Bus Routes Fotopic * London Bus Routes * Full Timetable (PDF) 016, London buses route 016, London buses route 016, London buses route 016, London buses route 016, London buses route